Welcome to a new, weekly column in which a topic of interest, piece of news, relevant opinion, or general request for feedback is presented. We’ll offer the topic du jour and accompanying question, and you have the opportunity to respond with your thoughts.
Simply fill out the form below. A collection of each week’s responses will appear in the following week’s column. To read last week’s responses, scroll below this week’s topic.
Publisher reserves the right to edit responses for clarity and publish online and/or in our print publications.
Please let us know your thoughts!
This week’s topic is:
Police Reform: Needed or Not?
In the final weeks of Maryland’s General Assembly, the legislature overturned Governor Larry Hogan’s veto of a fleet of police reformation bills intended to re-fund, reform, repeal the police bill of rights, and institute civilian review boards. Thus, Maryland became the first state to pass sweeping police reform bills.
In the current, turbulent social and police environment nationally, calls to reform police departments, and in extreme cases defund police, have been echoed, especially in the wake of visible policing breakdowns and injustices (George Floyd case, and most recently Daunte Wright killing).
But police reform and policing, in general, are very complex issues that require an educated understanding of an officer’s job description in action in order to cultivate responsible changes to training, management, and discipline. The nuances of situational awareness, split second decision making, protecting, and serving the community walk the line between objective and subjective observations and actions. Unless you’ve walked a day in the shoes of an officer on the beat (the public can do ride-alongs with officers, after all), you may not fully understand their role in the community.
Our questions to you:
Do you agree or not that policing needs extreme reform?
Do you agree or not with Maryland’s wave of new police reform bills?
How do you suggest communities/cities/states and our nation cope with the police injustices we have witnessed?
Please share your thoughts by filling out this form.
Last week, we asked you about 1st Amendment Rights vs. Cancel Culture and you responded! Here is a sampling of reader responses. To read more, click here.
Never in my lifetime did I think I would fear that my rights to say what I wish would be in jeopardy. The freedom to express your viewpoints without being labeled or ostracized. Life would be pretty dull if everyone agreed with everything. Some people have lost their minds and it scares me to death.
Camille Cimino, Annapolis
I thoroughly object to deliberately hurtful speech and actions -- from calling people derogatory names to physically harming them because of race, disability, etc., and having a public square featuring statues of well-known historical slavery advocates. Nevertheless, I equally object to mobs throughout the country knocking down statues of all people who simply had a slave, when slavery was the horrible, but almost universal, "institution" in the South and throughout the world; America was one of the first countries that eliminated slavery, and perhaps, some of the statues in question did not, in fact, represent cruel people.
A most egregious mob action was vandalizing the statue of Francis Scott Key, the writer of our National Anthem, in Baltimore. Anger over recent incidents that evoke the memories of oppression have spilled over into hatred of our very own country, which is now supposed to stand for freedom. It seems as if the growing anger and unforgiveness keeps giving rise to more incidents of violence and destruction and more forceful, deadly responses, which, in turn, fuel more anger to the point at which every questionable policy, action, or even word is considered a threat or sign of "hate".
In America, we have already cancelled God and eliminated His light from the public square, schools, and legislation. So isn't canceling God a precursor to canceling culture? Vocal minorities drown out the majority, which basically adheres to God's law, and succeed in passing legislation that eliminates traditional speech to the point that we soon might not even be allowed to use "gender pronouns". While mankind is trying to solve our problems and create a utopia of unity and freedom, without following God and His light, we work in vain. Rather, we are setting ourselves up to follow a path of darkness, where unity depends on enforcement by an oppressive regime which marginalizes and ultimately persecutes those whose "thoughts" do not align with the new "culture". We are already heading down the path as we make exceptions to the Bible and the Constitution to accommodate the latest idols of the "people."
Our governing officials have allowed flag burning and statue toppling in the name of free speech, but have prosecuted a wedding-cake designer for refusing to design on that contradicted his godly convictions. On many college campuses, authority figures have attacked students for expressing their views and have banned speakers who honor God to speak at graduation ceremonies, perhaps out of fear of a threat to our "cancel culture". It certainly looks as if free speech is in danger.
Meanwhile, many of us are continuing to pray and fight for our nation's democracy, its return to traditional values without oppression, individual equality-based merit, and the right to free speech with respect for others and even opposing views.
Carol Moyer, Riva
